Miyoo-mini+
Classics on the Go!
Before leaving for our yearly family vacation to Maine, I pulled the trigger and got myself my first handheld emulator machine, the Miyoo-mini+. I stumbled across this tiny powerhouse while I was browsing Reddit a while back, and I was intrigued after seeing how the users seemed to love it. After a while of going back and forth and checking them out on Amazon more than a few times, I finally joined the club, and I am so glad I did. I am having an absolute blast with this unit, and it blows my mind how far emulation has come; if you told me that one day I would be able to play my favourite SNES games not just on a computer, but on a device smaller than the original and Game Boy pocket while I am on vacation, I would have thought you were crazy…and yet, here we are.
Portable Memories
My first experience with the world of roms and emulators was with the Super Nintendo emulator ZSNES in the early 2000s, or maybe even in the late ‘90s. I remember hanging out with my good friend in his basement, amazed that we could download and play SNES games on his computer. It was because of this that I was able to experience those hard to find and already pricy games for the Super Nintendo like Chrono Trigger, Harvest Moon, and Earthbound. It was also when I got to dive back into the games that I rented from the video store over and over like Soul Blazer, E.V.O., and more than a few others. We spent countless hours playing those SNES classics, and this in turn led us to searching out emulators for other systems like the original NES and the Sega Genesis. This was the start of my love of retro gaming, and a love which grew over the decades.
Before the price of old games exploded during the good ol’ pandemic, I was slowly building myself a decent collection of classic games. My collection was growing steadily, but now I can’t bring myself to pay the crazy prices that people are asking; so instead I turned back to emulation. I was content to play on my PC for years, but now that I have jumped into the handheld emulation scene, I am hooked, and I love being able to play these classics while on the go, and everywhere else.
The Past is in Your Hands
The Miyoo-mini+ is a compact unit measuring 108mm x 78.5mm x 22.3mm with a 3.5-inch IPS backlit display with a resolution of 640x480. The handheld is Linux based with 128MB of memory, and an ARM Cortex-A7 dual-core processor running at 1.2GHz. It has a micro-SD card slot, which supports cards up to 128GB cards. I, along with most of the user base, recommend getting a better and bigger/better quality SD card than the one that comes with the unit (if you get one of the bundles that comes with a card with a bunch of preloaded games on it), not only for more space, but also because the included card is not the best quality, and it is only a matter of time before it dies on you. For its tiny size, the Miyoo-mini+ packs quite the punch, easily running games up to the PS1 with little to no slow down (from what I have seen so far). From what I have read, the Miyoo-mini+, and their other models, are some of the better Chinese emulation machines on the market for their price, and I can totally see why.
I think the screen looks great. The backlight is bright but not overpowering, leaving the blacks, black, and not washed out. The colours pop, and the screen image is crisp and clean. I have only really played the Legend of Zelda games for the GBC and Super Metroid for the SNES, but they have all looked fantastic so far. The display is definitely one of the highlights for me, and I am really happy with it.
The buttons are responsive, and feel quite nice, aside from the four shoulder buttons, which I feel are almost too small. I think this is due to the system’s small size, but I would have got rid of the second shoulder button because very few of the systems the unit plays really need them. It will be interesting to see how they fair over time, and if they wear out with any sort of extended use, but for now they’re feeling solid.
The unit’s speaker is good enough, and I feel are inline with what you would hear from a GBA; it can pump out some good sound, but a hi-fi speaker this is not. I also found that when I plugged some headphones in, even at max volume, they were very quiet. I don’t know if that was just due to the headphones I used, but it’s a strange little quirk of the Miyoo-mini+. It’s to be expected that for the price range, and for the size of the system, but the speaker and the sound quality is good enough.
Onion OS is the operating system that runs this little miracle, and it is a fantastic little thing. I would recommend a clean install of the OS (check this out) because I felt that it made everything run just that much better. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but from what I have seen so far, Onion makes using the mini+ a joy.
This is the Start of a Wonderful Friendship
All in all, I am having a lot of fun with my Miyoo-mini+. It blows my mind that I can play so many classic games while I am on the go, or when I am on my break at work; we really are living in the future, and I think it’s amazing. After only a month and a bit with this little unit, I have gone all in, and ordered myself a Retroid Pocket 5, because I am wanting even more options when it comes to emulation!
I would recommend the Miyoo-mini+ to anyone looking to dip their toes into the world of emulation machines. If you’re like me, this purchase is going to light a fire under you, and before you know it, you’ll be shelling out way too much to get an even better machine!
